WHISPERED BY THE WIND

"It wasn't you who changed..." she whispered to the wind, "It was me."

THE NEXT DAY...

Tokiya Mikagami was out of the classroom, again. Partly because he had to read some books recommended to him by his teacher to read for a certain upcoming Interschool Competition. His face was buried at the book while he was walking at the corridors of the school. He had decided to go to a vending machine at that floor and grab something to drink before heading off to the Student Center or rooftop where he can read in peace. He placed a 100 yen and grabbed his drink and proceeded walking heading towards the rooftop, as he had decided it would be rather more secluded than tha student center.

She was up the rooftop again. Fuuko walked down the steps of the staircase deep in thought. She stared at her feet making movements as she stepped. She hugged the book and folder she was holding for her presentation. She kept on sighing, thinking about her recent encounter with him. She was now a bit regretful that she had purposely ignored him for the past four years (one after her parents' death and three since he came back). She was a bit touched at his reaction. She never knew he took it seriously... she never knew he still held on to the hope of keeping their friendship alive... which she didn't. She sighed again and shifted her her arms to support what she was carrying. She had reached the last step of the stairs and stopped. "Gomen ne, Kurei. But, I couldn't help it." She whispered to herself and turned on her heel and continued walking.

He was silently sipping his drink and read the book at the same time. He never bothered looking at where he's going for he was well aware where the stairs was and that there are no student or teacher would be walking around the halls for the classes were ongoing. Well, so he thought...

She was still looking on the floor and deep in thought when she had bumped into someone... again. This guy, obviously not looking where he was going, bumped straight to her, causing her to back up a bit. She looked up and saw the same guy who had bumped into her earlier and was wearing the same look he had yesterday. She wasn't supposed to be angry at him since she was not in the mood, too, but the way he was looking at her was definitely annoying and undoubtly discriminating. Who the heck was he, anyways?

And that was also the first time she got a better glimpse of him...

He was handsome, beautiful if he was not a guy, but very handsome. He had long, silver hair and cold eyes of blue. He was lean and tall, but he had a flaw - he was way filled up with air.

He stared at her and saw her expression of loneliness change into slight annoyance. He closed his book and saw her starting to fume at him. He had recognized her. She was the one who bumped in him yesterday near the library. He also got a pretty good glimpse at her but now, he was actually looking at her. He had to admit this girl was beautiful, no bimbo (like the ones who followed him), and, as he had observed, was quite hot-headed. 'Also the first one to hate my guts,' he noted mentally. They were checking-out each other when the bell rang.

Students flooded out of the hall and was chattering around, obviously not noticing the two of them... yet.

One girl turned her head and started pulling on her friend's uniform and both screamed at the sight of Tokiya Mikagami. 'K'so,' he thought as the girls started to flood around him. Fuuko was suddenly surprised as students started to flood around him, making her unable to see him. Girls bumped at her and about. It raised the question even more on her head. So okay, this guy's quite popular... but who the heck is he?

Her question was about to be asked when she came across some of her classmates, who were also screaming and blushing wildly all at the same time, obviously trying to get near him. She became even more confused. She seized the opportunity to ask who was this guy.

"Ano, Izumi-san," Fuuko asked her classmate. "what's going on?"

Izumi stopped and faced her with a huge smile on her face. "What's going on?! It's TOKIYA MIKAGAMI! oh, he's so handsome and so smart..." she stopped talking and screamed with the other girls. Ah, so this was the famous Mikagami - the sophomore that they said had everything. He was being horded by girls, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, she decided to walk away when she saw the look he had on his face and the way he dealt with the girls... 'just like him,' she thought.

She met up with Rekka, Yanagi and Domon at the usual place, only there were not only three of them there. The Uruha was with them, too. She was about to turn to her heel when Miki called her and waved at her excitingly. "Oiya, Fuu-chan!"

All heads turned to see who Miki was waving at and saw her, including him. They all waved at her and she decided to simply smile back at them. He was looking at her, or rather staring. He raised his hand a bit to acknowledge her presence. Seemingly, she had no choice, she walked over to them.

She received hugs from the Uruha, especially Neon, who acted as an elder sister to her. She kept on asking how Fuuko was and she smiled at her answered her questions. The Uruha also bought lots of food for them and they sat down as they chatted for a little while. She sat with the girls on the other side, beside Neon while he sat across her, beside Raiha, his best friend. He ate in silence while all of them chatted animatedly, including Fuuko herself. But he kept throwing glances at her and she didn't fail to notice it at all.

"So, Fuuko-han," Joker started, "are you still busy with school and stuff?"

"Un. I have been appointed to do a class presentation and defense for the incoming competition." Fuuko replied before shoving a spoonful of baked macaroni on her mouth.

"That's nice. Wish I had the same determination you had..." Joker said defiantly. "Yeah, then maybe your grades will stop dropping." Neon said as she sat upstraight with a little smirk on her face. Joker stuck his tongue out at her as he continued his interrogation about Fuuko's school life.

"I heard that there were two students competing there. Do you know who's the other one?"

"Ummm, not that I've heard of but yeah, the teachers told me that I was going to have a partner, only that they weren't able to convince him yet... so they say," Fuuko explained while throwing a small piece of bread at Rekka.

"I heard it was going to be that guy from 2-A." Domon said while trying to swallow the whole slice of pizza. "I don't know his name. Err... maybe you do, Aki."

Aki's head shot up and swallowed whatever she was eating. "2-A guy is going to be a competitor? It's going to be Mikagami then, no doubt about it."

Fuuko almost choked on her food when she heard the name. No way, not him. She was going to be intimidated for the rest of the competition if it would be him. "I beg your pardon?"

"Mikagami Tokiya. You know him - rich, smart, popular, most handsome guy in the campus," Aki said dreamily and then turned to Fuuko and nudged her, "You sure are lucky Fuu-chan! You get to be with Tokiya Mikagami!"

Fuuko swallowed hard as she was growing quite nervous about her partner. It was going to be one long day as the bell rang and all of them proceeded to their classrooms. She said goodbye to all of them, except him. She only gave a slight nod and left with Yanagi. She was just about to sit when she was called by the vice-principal to be at the Science Department Head Office, making her even more nervous.

"Thank you, Mikagami-kun, for accepting this offer." his Science teacher said while fixing a few files here and there. "It would really mean a lot to the school. Thank you."

Mikagami merely nodded and continued to read stare at the window. "Your partner will be arriving soon. And I tell you, she's such a nice girl and I think you won't have a hard time working with her." Again, he only nodded, though his attention was caught when someone had knocked to the door and entered the office.

"Ah, Kirisawa-kun. Please, please, have a seat." the Science Department Head, Mr. Ishikawa said. "This is Mikagami Tokiya. Fuuko Kirisawa." Mikagami only nodded at her as she took a slight bow and had an irked but nervous look on her face.

"As you were told," he began, "You two will be partners for the upcoming competition next semester. It will be against all private schools in Japan, so this is no joke. It will bring us great honor. And I am well aware of your achievements and performance for the past two examinations given which had the sole purpose of choosing who will be competing," he continued and Fuuko remembered that exam which was given. It was the time when Rekka decided to burn the test paper and got beaten by Kurei the next day (she knew that, of course, Rekka told her) and Domon cried over the test paper. Mikagami also had remembered about the exam. It was the time a guy named Joker, who sat beside him during Science Class, kept scratching his head and flirted with a girl in his class. "Now, we didn't get to convince Mikagami here because he had so much in mind," 'Yeah, maybe because he's too pre-occupied keeping his air,' Fuuko thought while rolling her eyes a bit, which Mr. Ishikawa failed to notice but didn't escape Mikagami's eye. "Anyways, we have accomplished the schedule of events the two of you will be sent off to before the competition. It is a part of the requisites of the competition and you will be obliged to attend them in order for you to compete well. It is also a development program, so it is basically an opportunity for the both of you..." Mr. Ishikawa continued blabbering while Mikagami paid no attention to him and Fuuko examined the folder given to them. "Well, now. If you have any questions, just approach me. You may now go." He said and Mikagami immediately stood up and headed for the door as Fuuko raised a question. "Uh, Ishikawa-sensei, what's this 'A Month-Camp'?" Fuuko said and Mikagami stopped on his tracks and decided to look at his own copy of the schedule. It did say 'A Month-Camp', set in Okinawa on the third week. "Ah, that," Mr. Ishikawa stopped and produced his own copy out of his drawer. "It is the way of the committee to get all of the competitors well acquainted. A very nice idea, don't you think? It would also develop trust among everyone." Fuuko stared at the schedule once more and swallowed hard. 'Stuck with Mikagami for a month, away from here? This is not good...' Her thoughts were interrupted as Mr. Ishikawa stood up. "Well, if you would excuse me, I still have a meeting with Mr. Mori. And don't you kids worry, he has already signed all the approvals needed for that competition. No need to fuss about anything. You are both excused. Well, if you would kindly excuse me." Fuuko nodded and stood up and gave Mr. Ishikawa a slight bow and headed towards the door where Mikagami was currently standing and was about to open the door. "Good day to the both of you. I'll just call you when something's come up, okay." The both of them nodded.

They walked in separate directions because he was heading for his classroom on that floor and her, heading for the lifts and went down to the third floor. "Fuuko Kirisawa, you are dead." She muttered to herself, leaning on the elevator wall and bumped her head against it.